Local News

Surveyors set to count creepy crawlers at Oakland County’s parks

Oakland County Parks and Recreation officials recently kicked off a contracted survey to learn about the things that crawl, slither and croak at the county’s 13 parks.

Oakland County is partnering with Herpetological Resource and Management, LLC, and Florida-based ecological services firm Environmental Consulting and Technology, Inc., to track what species of frogs, snakes, salamanders and turtles are living on park grounds.

Surveyors have been visiting each park, placing wooden or metal cover objects in streams, fields, ponds and elsewhere to come back when temperatures warm and discover what’s living underneath.

Brittany Bird, the county’s natural resources planner, said the initiative is underway for two reasons: First, because some reptiles and amphibians living in Oakland parks have never been documented, and second, to help the Parks and Recreation department decide where to develop in the future and how to protect the natural habitat of the creepy crawlers.